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Husqvarna to emulate MINI in BMW stable

Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 4:37 pm
by Ridercam
As I read this, i was thinking "Huh?" They are looking to make off road bikes by building street bikes. I defer to brighter minds...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/mot ... table.html

Husqvarna’s Nuda 900 has more to do than most new bikes. Of course, it needs to sell well to justify its existence, but it’s also bringing Husqvarna back to pure road bike production for the first time since the Sixties, and it should show us what new owner BMW plans to do with the brand.
Not such a new owner, in fact, because BMW bought this run-down off-road bike brand from the MV Agusta fire sale four years ago. Husqvarna – once Swedish, then Italian – has a new factory funded by its German masters not far from MV Agusta near Varese in northern Italy, but we’ve seen little in terms of new models to show for the investment.
Until now, with the introduction of the Nuda 900 and similar but higher-spec 900R. Plenty is borrowed from BMW, not least the Nuda’s parallel twin engine, a heavily reworked version of the worthy if dull unit that powers the German company’s F800GS.
Capacity had been increased by 100cc through an increase in bore and stroke, while the crankshaft has been altered so rather than both pistons moving up and down together, the firing intervals are staggered.
There are also bigger valves, revised cam profiles and the inevitable remapping of the engine management. It all adds up to a substantial 18bhp boost to 103bhp, despite many of the changes intended to improve the feel and sound of the motor.

Re: Husqvarna to emulate MINI in BMW stable

Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 5:56 pm
by Major Softie
Ridercam wrote:As I read this, i was thinking "Huh?" They are looking to make off road bikes by building street bikes. I defer to brighter minds...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/mot ... table.html

Husqvarna’s Nuda 900 has more to do than most new bikes. Of course, it needs to sell well to justify its existence, but it’s also bringing Husqvarna back to pure road bike production for the first time since the Sixties, and it should show us what new owner BMW plans to do with the brand.
Not such a new owner, in fact, because BMW bought this run-down off-road bike brand from the MV Agusta fire sale four years ago. Husqvarna – once Swedish, then Italian – has a new factory funded by its German masters not far from MV Agusta near Varese in northern Italy, but we’ve seen little in terms of new models to show for the investment.
Until now, with the introduction of the Nuda 900 and similar but higher-spec 900R. Plenty is borrowed from BMW, not least the Nuda’s parallel twin engine, a heavily reworked version of the worthy if dull unit that powers the German company’s F800GS.
Capacity had been increased by 100cc through an increase in bore and stroke, while the crankshaft has been altered so rather than both pistons moving up and down together, the firing intervals are staggered.
There are also bigger valves, revised cam profiles and the inevitable remapping of the engine management. It all adds up to a substantial 18bhp boost to 103bhp, despite many of the changes intended to improve the feel and sound of the motor.
Applying Husqvarna’s "history" to this company makes no sense to me anyway. There is nothing about this company that is related to the Husqvarna that was building street bikes in the 60's other than the name. As far as I'm concerned, Husaberg is the closest thing we have to the real Husqvarna.

Re: Husqvarna to emulate MINI in BMW stable

Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 7:42 pm
by Sibbo
It's all about brand recognition and in this case Ted, I'm not sure that it will work .I wonder how many road riders remember Husqvarna at all ...except as a pretty good chainsaw ?

Re: Husqvarna to emulate MINI in BMW stable

Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2011 8:20 pm
by Mal S7
So .. its actually just a hotted up BMW? I guess it captures that market that are always wanting to be on something different, even if its in name only. And it leaves BMW not having to fret so much on the trade-off between performance and reliability.

That's the beauty of badge engineering for ya!

Next they will be stuffing a worked Rotax motor in a frame and calling it a Montesa!

d'ohh I meant Bultaco .... but hey, either way it would find buyers.